COURSE DESCRIPTION COURSE REQUIREMENTS
TEXT
EQUIRED FOR READING
CLASS FORMAT
CHILD OBSERVATION PROJECT
CLASS SCHEDULE
THE REPORT
CHILD OBSERVATION GRADING GUIDLINES
EXAMS
REPORT ON THE TRANSCENDENT CHILD

ANNOUNCEMENTS

SYLLABUS

Required for purchase
Berger, K.S. & Thompson, R.A. (1995). The Developing Person Through Childhood Adolescence (4th ed.) New York: Worth.
Straub, R.A. & Brown, J. W. (1995). Study Guide to Accompany Berger/Thompson. New York: Worth
Rubin, L.B. (1996), The Transcendent Child. New York: Harper Perennial.

This course is an introduction to the study of child development. It is intended to help the student understand the psychological development of children and the student’s own development. The course covers the period of the lifespan between conception and the onset of adolescence. Descriptions of how children develop and factors that cause or condition development are presented. Those descriptions are presented as contingencies rather than certainties. Development is a historical process, many-faceted and contingent. The facts we gather and the interpretations we make depend upon our time and theories. Not only do we have many good theories but they are disparate and they keep being revised. My hope is that you will welcome a journey into the worlds of childhood and those who study them. Perhaps the following quotation form G. Polya, a notable mathematician and teacher of mathematics, will convey the spirit in which we, you and I, can approach this course:

The author remembers the time when he was a student himself, a somewhat ambitious student, eager to understand a little mathematics and physics. He listened to lectures, read books, tried to take in the solutions and facts presented, but there was a question that disturbed him again and again: ‘Yes, the solution seems to work, it appears to be correct; but how is it possible to invent such a solution? Yes, this experiment seems to work, this appears to be a fact; but how can people discover such facts? And how could I invent or discover such things by myself?’"

1. The required reading:

   Textbook and Study Guide: All students are expected to read the assignments in the required text. If you keep up with the reading, then the lectures, demonstrations, films, and exams will make more sense to you, and you will be able to take an active roll in class. Before each lecture at least skim the appropriate chapter and read the review section of the chapter. The study guide will help you focus and organize your textbook reading.

   Transcendent Child: This book presents case studies of people who grew up under circumstances that should have led them to be severely maladjusted and yet they somehow "transcended" that fate. You will read this book and write a report on it (see attached description).

2. Class format: Regular prompt attendance is requested. If you must be absent, it is your responsibility to know what occurred and what the assignments are. The class activities will be coordinated with your textbooks reading. However, the textbook is your responsibility. Hopefully you know how to study textbooks. If not, the study guide that accompanies the text has much to tell you about studying in general and about how to study the Berger and Thompson text.

   My role in class will be to provide perspectives and contexts for your readings and to build on the text rather than review it. I will more than welcome questions about the required readings and will begin ach class by asking you whether there are specific aspects of the readings that you want clarified or discussed. Hopefully, you will come to each class prepared to identify the specific sections in the readings that you want considered. To help you follow my lectures, I will place out lines of the lectures on library reserve (3rd floor of UH library or Off-Campus site). You can check them out and copy them. Having a copy of the outlines in advance of my lectures should simplify note-taking and hopefully facilitate understanding.

3. Child Observation Project:
   See attached description. Due October 21 or sooner
4. Report on Transcendent Child:
   See attached description
   Due November 20
   *ITV students. Mail papers or deliver them to my or the ITV assistant's office or an off-campus site. Papers sent by e-mail or fax will not be accepted.
5. Exams: There will be 2 examinations. The exams will cover material that is discussed in the readings and in class. The exam format will be multiple choice questions. Approximately 20-25% of the questions will come from material presented in class that may not be covered or emphasized in the textbook and the remaining questions will come from material specifically presented in the textbook.
6. Exam and Assignment Policies: Examinations that are missed can be made-up only if the cause is very serious and documentable. Assignments should be turned in on time; late assignments will receive lower scores.
7. Grading: The final course grade will be a weighted average of the follow:
   
   Exam 1: 37%
   Exam 2: 37%
   Child Observations: 21%
   Transcendent Child: 5%

CLASS SCHEDULE (dates of topics approximate; readings refer to textbook)

Fall, 1997

Attachment

CHILD OBSERVATION PROJECT

It’s one thing to read about the facts and theories psychologists generate about children’s minds and quite another thing to participate in the process. The observations provide you with a opportunity to bridge the gap. You will administer 4 tasks to each of 2 children. Their ages will be about 4 and 5; no younger than 4 and no older than just turning 6. The different ages will give you a chance to see how children change in their willingness, coprehensio, and ability with regard to the tasks. (you can use 2 children of about the same age if you like; if so, close to age 5 is preferable.) There are two general ways to think about the children’s performances. One is in terms of how successfully they are relative to adult standards: Do they get "smarter" as they get older? Another is to focus on how they go about the tasks in their terms and what can we learn about how their minds work from the mistakes they make? The virtue of the latter approach is that it forces us to take the child’s perspective. Most things we ask children to do are so obvious to us that it is hard to see what is involved in carrying the tasks. We can learn both about ourselves and well as the children by trying to get at their perspective, by carefully observing HOW the children go about the tasks rather than just noting whether they got the "right" or the "wrong answers."

THE TASKS: (Not in order of presentation to children. That order is presented on the child observation forms).

1. COPY A SQUARE AND A DIAMOND

   Give the child 2 opportunities to copy each figure on the observation forms. This task is interesting in two ways. One stems from the fact that the diamond and the square are both squares and yet the diamond is drawn correctly about two years later than the square. How come? What is it about the diagonal orientation that poses special difficulties?

   The other is that the tasks give you many opportunities to see HOW the child goes about making the figure. How does she use the standard? Does she know its name, copy it or a prior idea of it, check it out before, during, after? Does the child have a plan? Does he draw straight lines, curved ones, see the connection between lines and corners? Do they improve on their second drawing or get worse? What methods lead to the changes?

   Remember, your goal is to see if you can understand their concepts and reasoning. In that regard, it is useful to ask yourself how you "see" the figures so you can copy them? How might you change their reasoning? Why might that fail and what might that tell you about their minds?

   PIAGETIAN TASKS. The next three tasks were developed by Piaget and bear on a common theme: multiple-perspective-taking. Imagine a child who seems to understand something from its point of view. What happens if you ask him to look at it from two points of view at the same time, its and yours?

2. FAMILY EGOCENTRISM: SIBLINGS.
   

   This is a nice straightforward task. It is best when a boy has brothers or a girl has sisters. But it still makes sense when the child has opposite sex siblings. If the child has no siblings, then it loses its point thought you could still ask it out of curiosity--will they make up answers to please you or for some other reason. Or you could explore some related concepts, e.g., parent-grandparent: does your father have a father; is your father a son? Notice the primary point. If "Johnny" has two brothers, Tom and Bill, what will he say when you ask him how many brothers does Billy have? You would say 2 because you would include yourself if you were Johnny. What if the child says 1, Tom? How can you explain such an answer? Plainly the child does not include himself as a brother. Why not? Did he forget and what might such forgetting have to do with the kind of concept of brother he has, with how the terms is used by the child and his family? Are there any things you could do after the testing that would help you understand his answer better? Try explaining to the child the right answer. What happens? What would it mean?

3. "FAMILY" EGOCENTRISM: WHICH HAND?
   

   This task has the same idea built into it but doesn't depend on the child having siblings. What is needed by the child is knowledge of the social concention of hand names--my right hand, left hand. Most of the children should know this. If they don't, then the task is inappropriate. But it would be interesting to ask if they'd like you to teach them their hand names and, if they want to, see what happens. But if they do know their hand names, what happens when you ask they to name YOUR hands when they face you? Do they use names corresponding to their point of view of yours? What if they label your left hand as right? Plainly, the child is labeling your hand in terms of how it matches up with its body sides. Are there things you might try that would help you understand his reasoning better? Try explaining the right answer. What happens? What is it about your method that might be confusing, get obedience without understanding, might lead to understanding? In that regard, it is useful to think about your own methods and where they came from.

4. CONSERVATION OF NUMBER.

   This is one of Piaget's more famous tasks. It provides an opportunity to discover that some children who can count very well might not know as much about numbers as you might think. Further, it provides a chance to see how many different concepts are embedded in the idea of number and to get an idea of how difficult it is for children to organize them coherently. After determining how the child can count NUMBER NAMES, you present her with two types of counting and conservation problems. In the first, you go through 3 steps. In step 1, you see whether the child can apply the number names to a set of 11 objects. In the second, you see whether she can make comparative number judgements when one row has 6 things and the other has 5 and the two rows are lined up 1-1. (the objects should be as identical as possible in color, shape, etc.; many parents and schools don't like you to use candy. Alternatives might be lottos, coins, raisins.) Step 3 is the CONSERVATION TASK. Which row will the child choose to keep after you spread the row of 5 so that it is longer than the row of 6? Will the child base its choice on number or spread or perhaps choose the row of 6 because it's more "bunched together"? If she chooses the spread row, will she change her mind when asked to count and/or show confusion over what to do? The second task repeats the first, only now a "mistake" would be less dramatic because choice of the spread-out-row still leads the child to get as many things as the choice of the other row. Doing the second task gives you a look at how stable the child's concepts are. For example, if they chose the row of 5 instead of 6, then corrected themselves when they counted, will they now make the mistake again? Or will they now know spreading has nothing to do with "how many"? Again, if they err, how might their minds be working? What happens when you try to explain the right answer? What is it about the explanation that does and doesn't work?

CHILD OBSERVATION REPORT

1. Description the children and your interactions. For each child, write up a paragraph in which you briefly describe the child and your sense of what happened between you as you interacted during the administration of the tasks.
2. Your observation sheets for each child with the blanks filled in appropriately. If you asked additional questions or made additional observations that you think are relevant, e.g., description of HOW they went about doing the tasks, CAREFULLY write them in at appropriate places on the record sheets. Remember each child's observations are to be recorded on their sheets--not 2 children on the same sheets.
3. DISCUSSION. This is the place where (1) YOU DESCRIBE WHAT YOUR 2 CHILDREN DID ON THE TASKS and (2) YOUR THINKING ABOUT WHAT THE CHILDREN'S TASK PERFORMANCES REVEAL ABOUT THEIR CONCEPTS AND REASONING.

1. GENERAL FORMAT FOR THE DISCUSSION SECTION
   1. Description of what the 2 children did on the 4 tasks. There are two ways in which you can organize this section:
      1. By child: For each child describe what they did on the 4 tasks
      2. By task: Describe what the 2 children did on each task.
   2. Discussion of the children's concepts and reasoning. Again, there are two ways of presenting your thoughts
      1. You can follow each section of description of the child/children did with your views of how they were thinking on the tasks.
      2. You can interleave your descriptions of "what" with your views of the children's thinking.
   3. Conclusion: A summation of what you learned from this experience about your children's minds and your own as you went through this project. The discussion section should be about 10 double-spaced type-written pages in length.
2. HOW TO THINK ABOUT CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS AND REASONING
   1. The principal goal of this assignment is to get you trying to think about children from their points of view as well as your own. That of course is easier said than done. The venture begins with the recognition that children forever are having to learn adult concepts which their prior experiences only partially prepare them for. As such, they must make sense of our tasks in their own terms. Their definitions of the problems serve as the basis of their actions and their definitions will be in only partial correspondence with ours. Moreover, each child's history of experiences will lead them to focus on, and ignore, somewhat different features of than the tasks than we. Further, there never is only one right way to understand and solve any problem. Therefore, you want to think about your particular children in relation to their particular tasks rather than in terms of generalities. In such a frame, it is important to be curious about what underlies their performance on these tasks.
   2. There are various ways of satisfying your curiosity. Some you should use sparingly. You can ask them about their reasons for their conduct. You can try to teach them concepts they don't have, noting what features of the teaching methods do and don't work. Use these methods sparingly because we often don't know our reasons and because too much questioning and teaching quickly lead children, and adults, to conclude that they are stupid. Therefore, above all, puzzle back and forth between (1) your view of the nature and details of the tasks, (2), the "what's" and "how's" of their performances, and (3) how the children related to you and felt. Put otherwise, try putting yourself in their "shoes". Try imagining you were they. What kinds of "definitions" of the tasks would lead you to "sensibly" do some of the seemingly "nonsensical" things they did?
   3. It may be unrealistic to do this in depth for all of the children and all of the tasks. A lead into when to try to get at "their point of view" are situations that were surprising to you--situations in which the children seemed to be interested, seemed to understand

SOME GUIDELINES RELATIVE TO GRADING

C-level work:

Very general descriptions of the two children

Observations that evidence that you understood the point of the tasks and administered and recorded them carefully in accordance with the instructions for the assignment.

Discussion makes reasonable point(s) but they tend to be from the "adult point of view" and tend to be a general descriptive level or the point is not clearly presented or the evidence is not clearly marshalled.

Good English and editing

A-level work:

Particularized descriptions the children that communicate a sense of what they were like as they interacted with you.

Observations that go beyond the descriptive, including "how's" and task "innovations" that clearly bear on providing a picture of the children's concepts and reasoning.

Discussion provides reasonable specific points about how the workings of some of the children's minds on some of the tasks led them to act as they did and provided relevant detailed evidence for the points in a clear, coherent fashion.

A thoughtful commentary on what you learned from the project that takes into account the prior points.

B-level work: Somewhere in between C and A.

REPORT ON THE TRANSCENDENT CHILD

Part 1. A brief description of what Rubin means by "transcendence" and a succinct description of her argument about what leads some children to be able transcend their "poisonous" life circumstances.

Part 2. Choose one of the cases that most clearly bears upon someone you know well. In the framework of describing the similarity of the two people,discuss whether Rubin's analysis helps you understand the person you know and discuss questions her perspective raises for you.

My intent is to get you thinking about the relation of childhood to adulthood in a personally meaningful way and not to judge your efforts. Therefore if you take the task seriously and write up your thoughts in good, well-edited English, you are assured a grade of 100 on this assignment. There'll be no comments from me, just a number which I'm sure will be 100 because you will hold up your end of the bargain. The report should be about 5 double-spaced pages in length. It certainly can be longer but try hard not to be wordy or wandering.

Dr. Gratch/Table of Contents